How Myles Straw Turned a Bad Trade Into a Good One

On the morning of January 17, the Toronto Blue Jays acquired $2 million in international bonus pool money and Myles Straw from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

As this news broke, Blue Jays fans exploded with excitement, but none of that excitement was directed towards Straw.

See, at the time, the week leading up to this trade was filled with talk of 23-year-old Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, who was in the process of coming stateside to sign with a major league team as an international amateur. The sweepstakes were long and tedious, but as a decision drew near, it was reported that the Blue Jays were a finalist to sign Sasaki, along with the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

When the news of the Straw deal broke, many fans pointed to the $2 million in bonus pool money that could be handed directly to Sasaki if he were to sign with Toronto and jumped to the conclusion that the Jays knew Sasaki was going to choose them, or at least had a strong belief that the additional $2 million would set them apart from the other finalists.

However, Cleveland wasn’t just going to give away bonus pool money to Toronto as a good deed. In return for the bonus pool money, the Blue Jays had to take on Straw and $11 million of his remaining salary for 2025 and 2026.

That’s not an insignificant chunk of change, and it was pretty close to being considered dead money, because in 2024, Straw only got into seven major league games. He spent almost the entirety of his age-29 season playing for Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate. In nearly 500 plate appearances, his .651 OPS was well below the Triple-A average, and he hit just three homers.

It’s not often you see players on major league contracts spend entire healthy seasons in the minors; this contract looked like it was completely underwater. 

Cleveland was no doubt elated to get out of the contract, and it’s safe to presume the Jays didn’t love taking it on, but it would easily be worth the price if it helped them acquire a cost-controlled, future superstar starting pitcher in Sasaki.

Of course, as we now know, on the evening of the same day that the Blue Jays traded for Straw, disaster struck, and Sasaki announced on his personal social media that he had agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The baseball world once again cracked jokes at the expense of the Blue Jays and their inability to push a high-profile free agent acquisition over the line. Blue Jays fans descended into anger and frustration, having gotten their hopes up for Sasaki and instead being left with Straw.

When the dust settled and we evaluated the Blue Jays’ roster outlook heading into spring training, it was hard to even find a spot on the roster for Straw. If it weren't for Daulton Varsho’s delayed start to the season due to a long recovery from shoulder surgery, Straw may have been relegated to starting another season in the minors.

The rest of the baseball world didn’t respect it yet, but coming into 2025, the Blue Jays planned on being a serious contender. Not a lot of people saw the vision that included Myles Straw playing a role on a contending team.

Well, in 2025, both Straw and the Jays have proved everyone wrong. 

The Blue Jays have had a stranglehold on the top spot in the American League East for more than a month and look to be cruising back into October, despite so many people counting them out after their disappointing 2024.

And Straw is a big reason why. 

Ask John Schneider how his team has produced some of the best offensive numbers in the game, and how his position player group has come together to lead baseball in FanGraphs WAR, and he’ll talk about the importance, not of one through nine, but one through 13.

He’d tell you that every player on the roster has a role to play every day, whether that’s starting at shortstop, laying down a bunt in a key situation, or coming in as a defensive replacement to protect a late lead.

Myles Straw has bought into that philosophy and played his role perfectly.

He’s top 10 among outfielders with 12 defensive runs saved despite playing an average of about 400 fewer innings than every player above him on the list.

His defence has been nothing short of elite this year. It's been the main factor helping him to a 1.6 WAR according to FanGraphs and a 2.3 WAR according to Baseball Reference. That’s a very valuable player!

And don’t let the emphasis on his glove let you forget his contributions with the bat. Straw has played an important role for the Jays’ elite offense this year. The overall numbers don’t exactly jump off the page, but his 10 successful sacrifice bunts are the third most in baseball, his baserunning is elite, and his .673 OPS in the majors this season is actually better than his OPS at Triple-A last season.

He recently registered his first career multi-homer game against the Texas Rangers, and his four homers this season have tied his career high set in 2021.

The overall picture won't blow you away, but Straw has been well worth the $6.4 million (of which Toronto is paying $5 million) he’s making this season. FanGraphs values one WAR at about $8 million, so his 1.6 fWAR this year would already make Straw’s season worth about $12.5 million on the open market. If we use bWAR instead, his 2.3 wins above replacement would have Straw worth more than $18 million. 

Not only have the Jays broken even on what was expected to be a negative value contract, but Straw has actually provided excess value.

To turn the trade from an A to an A+, the Blue Jays recently agreed to sign an exciting 18-year-old Korean pitcher, Seo-jun Moon, to an amateur free agent contract with $1.5 million of their extra $2 million in bonus pool money.

Moon was considered one of the top pitching prospects for this year's KBO draft, but he chose to sign with the Blue Jays rather than begin his career in the KBO.

There’s still a lot of season left to play, and Myles Straw is still under contract for 2026, but it’s been really fun to watch him turn one of the worst stories of the 2025 Blue Jays into one of the best.